Rubio Says Venezuela Will Seat New Supreme Court Justices by Mid-December, Opening a Path to Elections

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela will have new justices on its Supreme Court by mid-December, followed quickly by a new National Electoral Council, steps he described as clearing the way for presidential elections. Speaking in Paris on Monday, Nov. 9, on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Rubio said the sequence would end with interim president Delcy Rodríguez declaring the presidency vacant, which would open a six-month window to hold a vote, Infobae and El Nacional reported.

The Venezuela Supreme Court, known by its Spanish initials TSJ, and the electoral council, the CNE, were both controlled by allies of Nicolás Maduro for years, and opponents long accused them of rubber-stamping his rule. Replacing their members is a precondition for any election that the opposition and Washington would accept.

The timeline Rubio described

Rubio also said he wants Venezuelan consulates opened in the United States so that the roughly 7 million Venezuelans living abroad can take part, Infobae reported. He noted that opposition leader María Corina Machado has been back in Venezuela since Oct. 25 and has not been arrested.

An opposition proposal for 2027

Separately, the opposition party Primero Justicia proposed a six-stage transition timeline ending with presidential elections in August or September 2027, according to EFE as published by Infobae. Party official Juan Carlos Caldera presented the plan. The proposal broadly fits Rubio’s sequence: if a vacancy were declared early in 2027, a six-month window would put the vote around the third quarter.

Rubio said last week that a vote would ideally take place in 2027, as we reported in our story on his comments and Hegseth’s budget request.

How Venezuela got here

Maduro was captured about 10 months ago, and Rodríguez, his former vice president, has served as interim president since. Washington has pressed her government to set a path to elections while keeping security operations in the region active, including the Southern Vanguard deployment with Colombia. Rubio’s remarks in Paris came during the same G7 meeting where foreign ministers discussed Ukraine and Iran.

Analysis: how long the path could take

By The Boston Report’s reckoning from the steps Rubio described, the earliest plausible election date depends on two gaps that have not been set: how long after the TSJ the new CNE is installed, and how long after that Rodríguez declares the vacancy. If the court is seated in mid-December, the CNE in January and the vacancy declared soon after, a six-month window would put the vote by about July or August 2027. Any slippage pushes it toward the August-September window Primero Justicia proposed. In either case, Venezuelans would not vote before mid-2027.

The consular question could add time. Registering millions of voters abroad would require consular staff, voter rolls and agreements with host countries, including the United States, where Rubio wants consulates opened.

What to watch

Who is appointed to the TSJ, and through what process, will be the first test of whether the institutions are genuinely independent. The opposition will look for justices and electoral officials who are not tied to the old government. The second test is the date Rodríguez declares the vacancy, which starts the six-month clock. Diaspora voting, if consulates open, could add millions of potential voters and would require voter registration abroad on a scale Venezuela has not attempted.

Sources

• Infobae: Marco Rubio confirmó que Venezuela tendrá nuevos magistrados del TSJ en diciembre
• El Nacional: Marco Rubio afirma que la transición democrática en Venezuela avanza hacia elecciones
• Infobae (EFE): Partido opositor venezolano propone comicios presidenciales para tercer trimestre de 2027